It’s been a while since I’ve read cannon, but isn’t this almost exactly what happens in cannon? HGMoR sounds like it’d just be cannon written with JKR following around HG instead of HP (which, admittedly, would be rather interesting)
JKR couldn’t write rationalist fiction. She lacks the relevant domain knowledge. She could plausibly write a spock-rationalist fiction or perhaps responsible-academic fiction.
Well certainly. I wrote that sentence from the perspective of “cannon happens, author follows around writing down the story” rather than “author makes up story.” I guess a better way to communicate that would be to say “were we to write HGMoR in the cannon universe, we wouldn’t have to change anything.”
I guess a better way to communicate that would be to say “were we to write HGMoR in the cannon universe, we wouldn’t have to change anything, since HG acts rationally.”
That’s just the thing: canon!Hermione doesn’t act rationally according to the way used here or in MoR. An actual rational!Hermione would act entirely differently and the whole story would change. Rowling did not create a rational Hermione and in fact could not have if she tried. The story would be different.
Since Rowling follows around HP and not HG, we don’t actually know how HG thinks. Since JKR wrote the story, she can use preknowledge to make HG arbitrarily smart, and since she doesn’t have too large of an impact on what actually happens, she can do this without needing to account for how smart HG is; even if she were to devise some genius plan to beat voldy, she’d have to act through HP, who could easily and stupidly reject her plan offscreen. That is, I’m arguing that even if you kept making HG arbitrarily smart (but not arbitrarily powerful or prophecy-choosen), you could easily keep everything else the same by making HP or some other characters arbitrarily stupid, possibly offscreen.
EDIT: Oops, I edited the previous comment to leave out the phrase “since HG acts rationally” a few seconds after I posted it, since that’s not really what I meant, but you seem to have beat me to the response.
Since JKR wrote the story, she can use preknowledge to make HG arbitrarily smart, and since she doesn’t have too large of an impact on what actually happens
That’s arguable but if true it would also demonstrate the point. An actually rational agent in her situation would have made a significant impact.
she can do this without needing to account for how smart HG is; even if she were to devise some genius plan to beat voldy, she’d have to act through HP, who could easily and stupidly reject her plan offscreen.
No. That would not be a HG:MoR story. That would be Hermione Granger and the Excessively Upgraded Idiocy All Around Her.
That is, I’m arguing that even if you kept making HG arbitrarily smart (but not arbitrarily powerful or prophecy-choosen), you could easily keep everything else the same by making HP or some other characters arbitrarily stupid, possibly offscreen.
This just isn’t true. I think you drastically underestimate the difference between the smart and conciencious girl as conceived by Rowling and an actual rational upgrade of Hermione and the consequences that would have. An arbitrary rational Hermione, even with the only the IQ of canon!Hermione, would be an active agent. If not, it isn’t Methods of Rationality at all. It’s Methods of being a Responsible and Slightly Clever Schoolgirl.
JKR couldn’t write rationalist fiction. She lacks the relevant domain knowledge. She could plausibly write a spock-rationalist fiction or perhaps responsible-academic fiction.
Well certainly. I wrote that sentence from the perspective of “cannon happens, author follows around writing down the story” rather than “author makes up story.” I guess a better way to communicate that would be to say “were we to write HGMoR in the cannon universe, we wouldn’t have to change anything.”
That’s just the thing: canon!Hermione doesn’t act rationally according to the way used here or in MoR. An actual rational!Hermione would act entirely differently and the whole story would change. Rowling did not create a rational Hermione and in fact could not have if she tried. The story would be different.
Since Rowling follows around HP and not HG, we don’t actually know how HG thinks. Since JKR wrote the story, she can use preknowledge to make HG arbitrarily smart, and since she doesn’t have too large of an impact on what actually happens, she can do this without needing to account for how smart HG is; even if she were to devise some genius plan to beat voldy, she’d have to act through HP, who could easily and stupidly reject her plan offscreen. That is, I’m arguing that even if you kept making HG arbitrarily smart (but not arbitrarily powerful or prophecy-choosen), you could easily keep everything else the same by making HP or some other characters arbitrarily stupid, possibly offscreen.
EDIT: Oops, I edited the previous comment to leave out the phrase “since HG acts rationally” a few seconds after I posted it, since that’s not really what I meant, but you seem to have beat me to the response.
That’s arguable but if true it would also demonstrate the point. An actually rational agent in her situation would have made a significant impact.
No. That would not be a HG:MoR story. That would be Hermione Granger and the Excessively Upgraded Idiocy All Around Her.
This just isn’t true. I think you drastically underestimate the difference between the smart and conciencious girl as conceived by Rowling and an actual rational upgrade of Hermione and the consequences that would have. An arbitrary rational Hermione, even with the only the IQ of canon!Hermione, would be an active agent. If not, it isn’t Methods of Rationality at all. It’s Methods of being a Responsible and Slightly Clever Schoolgirl.